Over the same period this year, the brand sold
4,374,900 cars worldwide — an increase of
0.6%.

However, these figures are somewhat misleading. That's
because VW's sales figures in almost all markets around the world
have fallen so far this year. But none of that really matters
because Chinese consumers love their Volkswagens.

This is something the powers-that-be at Volkswagen has noticed.

"Thanks to the strong performance in China, deliveries by
Volkswagen in September were noticeably higher than the previous
year,"Jürgen Stackmann said in a statement.
"Consequently, our deliveries for the period from January
to September exceeded the 2015 level."

So far this year, VW has sold 2.13 million cars in the Middle
Kingdom which represents 48.8% of the brand's total global sales.

According to VW, much of its 11.4% year-over-year growth can be
attributed to the hot sales of its Lavida, Sagitar, Jetta, and
Santana sedans. In fact, these represent four of the seven best
selling cars in China last month.

VW's strength in the Chinese market can be linked to the
company's long standing relationship with the country's car
buyers that dates back to the early 1980s with original Santana
sedan. Also, Volkswagen and VW Group cars remain popular options
as Chinese Government procured runabouts.

In addition, the brand's Chinese offerings are almost exclusively
gasoline powered. This means that VW's operations in the country
were not really exposed to the 2.o liter, diesel, four-cylinder
engine at the heart of the scandal that affected more than 11
million cars worldwide. In fact, only 1,950 cars were affected in
China, the Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the Journal, Chinese consumers have purchased a
whopping 16.75 million new cars over the first nine months of the
year — an increase of 15% over the same period in 2015.